The Philippines may reach 20,000 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases per day within the next two weeks as infections continue to rise in the country, OCTA Research said on Saturday, August 21.
"Ang katotohanan kahit ayaw nating sabihin ito, tataas ang numero... Nakikita natin, within two weeks maaring umabot na tayo ng 20,000 cases kung hindi mababago ang sitwasyon (The truth is even if we don’t want to say it, the number will increase... We see, within two weeks we can reach 20,000 cases if the situation will not change)," Dr. Guido David of OCTA Research Team said in an interview with DZRH on Saturday.
On August 20, the country recorded 17,231 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in a single day since the pandemic began in March last year.
"Hindi pa yan ang pinakamataas, pero most likely mas tataas pa yan. Hindi ko sinabing sure, pero most likely, kasi pataas pa 'yung trend eh. 'Yung reproductive number natin sa buong bansa ay greater than 1.47 sa ngayon (That's not the highest yet, but most likely it will increase. I didn't say sure, but most likely, because the trend is still going up. Our reproductive number nationwide is greater than 1.47 right now)," said David, adding it will not go down anytime soon.
David said that the optimistic scenario in the National Capital Region is that the trend will improve by the first or second week of September.
However, he noted that it is not guaranteed as the reproduction number of COVID-19 in Metro Manila which is now at 1.6 is still unstable.
"Unlike nung April, 'nung March, nag ECQ tayo, nakita natin. Nagsimulang bumaba at tuloy tuloy na bumaba siya (Unlike in April, 'in March, we did an ECQ, we saw it. It started to go down and it kept going down)," he said.
The Cebu City, meanwhile, is showing signs of improvement, David said.
"Mas stable siya, mas bumababa reproductive number na 1.29 nalang. Doon nakikita natin na by first week of September, makikita natin na magkakaroon, na may downward trend sa pagbaba ng bilang ng kaso (It is more stable, the reproductive number is only 1.29. There we see that by the first week of September, we will see that there will be a downward trend in the number of cases)," he said.
"Sa ngayon hindi pa pababa yung trend sa buong Pilipinas, definitely, pataas pa (So far, the trend in the whole Philippines has not gone down and is definitely expected to go up)," he added.
David also noted that the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in other areas outside Metro Manila.
"Isa sa may pinakamataas na pagtaas sa Rizal --- Antipolo, Taytay, Cainta. Bumibilis ang hawaan don. Sa Laguna at Cavite bumaba," he said.
David advised the public to do their part in preventing the deadly virus from spreading
"It is possible for 20,000 cases. Kung ganyan talaga ang mangyayari, kailangan talaga natin magtulungan, gawin natin 'yung parte natin. Yung national government at local government units natin, they can only do so much. Malaki dito yung impact ng personal responsibility. (If that's really going to happen, we really need to work together. Let's do our part. The national government and our LGUs, they can only do so much. The impact of personal responsibility is big here."